If you’d​​ told Nebraska fans on Saturday morning they were about to witness an upset loss to Northern Illinois, they’d likely assume something went disastrously wrong for Bob Diaco’s defense. He’s been the popular punching bag just a few games into his tenure as the Huskers’ defensive coordinator.

What happened on Saturday wasn’t the fault of his defense. In fact, that defense gave up just seven points. What actually occurred, in a 21-17 home loss to a MAC foe, was a bitter reality check for a Huskers offense that’s nowhere close to meeting expectations.

That offense dug an early 14-0 hole — on a pair of Tanner Lee pick-sixes — that Nebraska could not figure out a way to overcome. Without the help of injured running back Tre Bryant, the Huskers ran for 85 yards on 36 attempts. A combination of pressure, misfires and drops turned into a 6-for-19 day on third down. They outgained NIU 384-213 in yardage and still came up short.

“We’re not consistent enough in any part of our offense — running, blocking, making plays,” coach Mike Riley told reporters afterward. “So we never could recover from giving them two touchdowns early on.”

It’s all a little difficult to reconcile when, just a few weeks ago, Riley said he thought he had an offense capable of scoring on every drive. That line was repeated to him Saturday.

“We can be that team that can run the ball, throw the ball, play-action pass,” Riley said. “But, boy oh boy, we’re so far from that I can’t even hint at that at this point. I was wrong. I was wrong. We’ve got a lot of work to get back to that.”

Nebraska hired Mike Riley partly to be the antithesis of Bo Pelini, but the Huskers’ winning percentage is moving in the opposite direction too. (Bruce Thorson / USA TODAY Sports)

The problem is, there’s no one player to blame and no one easy fix to make. It’s not all on Lee if he isn’t getting protection. It’s not all on the passing game if the Huskers can’t get the run game rolling. It’s not all on the playcalling if Nebraska keeps enduring penalties and drops.

And sometimes, NIU just made a great play. That’s how this whole upset started, with cornerback Shawun Lurry brilliantly identifying a bubble screen and jumping it for an 87-yard return and a 7-0 lead. Let’s not underestimate Rod Carey, his players, his staff or their plan. This is a MAC program with a proud recent history of knocking off Power 5 foes, and they straight-up outplayed Nebraska.

The Huskers’ final offensive drive of the day painted a fairly accurate picture of an offense in disarray: A run play for 4 yards, a scramble by Lee under pressure for no gain, a sack of a blindsided Lee for an 8-yard loss, then Lee forcing a throw over the middle that was easily picked off.

The Tulane transfer has thrown a combined seven interceptions against Oregon and NIU. Both losses ended with last-chance drives foiled by picks. The offseason hype on Lee spun out of control, beyond all reasonable expectations. Lee was deemed a “top NFL prospect” by one expert this summer after a strong performance in a T-shirt and shorts at the Manning Passing Academy.

And Riley had no problem with that praise, because he knows Lee is a mature, consistent and level-headed kid. He needs Lee to be that guy now after two performances that prove Lee is still a work in progress. Riley never considered a switch to backup Patrick O’Brien on Saturday, because a QB change wouldn’t solve the problems in pass protection.

A more legitimate threat from Nebraska’s run game might have helped. Nebraska is averaging 96 rushing yards per game in Riley’s last six losses. The locals aren’t going to like that. There will be questions raised about Nebraska’s more finesse offensive identity this week, no doubt.

But the larger identity Riley sees, at least right now, is a lack of consistency. They led 41-26 against Arkansas State in the opener and nearly blew it. They trailed 42-14 at Oregon and almost came all the way back. And now this.

“We’ve been, I would say, inconsistent at best,” Riley said. “I mean, that’s not even probably accurate. That’s been us. And I don’t like that. I think we’ve got to have a better identifying quality than just being like we’ve been, inconsistent as a football team.”

Is Riley actually in trouble here? No, probably not yet. His contract just got extended through 2020 four days ago. (For what it’s worth, Bo Pelini and Bill Callahan both got extensions in the same year they got fired.) One difference, this time, is Riley has always had loyal support from athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who made a rare postgame media appearance Saturday and was asked what his message is to an unsatisfied fan base.

“Frustrated, angry, unacceptable, disappointed,” Eichorst said calmly. “Hang in there. We have a good group of young men in that locker room who are working really hard to represent us and win ballgames, and I would say the same thing about our staff. But everybody’s got to take it up a notch. We’ve got to get moving in the right direction.”

And that starts with Nebraska’s offense, even if it’s hard to know where to start.

(Top photo: Bruce Thorson, USA TODAY Sports)

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